by Linsey Hall
“Who would be cooking down here?” Maximus asked.
“There are a few options,” Prometheus said. “Most of whom we probably don’t want to meet.”
“Let’s take a diverging path if we find one.” I raised my lightstone ring higher, hoping to see another split in the path.
I didn’t, and the route we were on led into another enormous cavern. Huge rock formations filled the space, and it took me a moment to realize that they kind of looked like furniture.
“Oh fates,” I murmured.
“Giants,” Maximus whispered.
I looked at Prometheus, whose brow was creased with worry. “Let’s move quickly. Quietly. Keep to the shadows.”
I gestured for him to lead the way, and he did. We skirted around the side of the cave at first. I spotted no one. Halfway through the cavern, we darted to the middle, where we could hide beneath the massive table.
Once again, I felt like a mouse. Sneaking up on the giant Titans had been hard enough. This was extra freaky since I didn’t know exactly what was coming.
Fortunately, the cavern remained empty. Whoever lived here was gone.
We hurried to the edge of the table and peeked out into the open cavern. There was a stone couch covered in massive cushions about forty yards away.
Prometheus pointed to it, and I nodded. As a group, we sprinted toward it, then slipped underneath. Whoever had built it was so big that the space under the couch was five feet high. I could nearly stand upright.
We moved quickly through the shadows and headed for the other side.
When the ground began to vibrate slightly beneath my feet, I stiffened.
Prometheus and Maximus did the same, each turning to look at me.
“Company,” I whispered.
We snuck to the edge of the couch, and I peered out just in time to see an enormous Cyclops enter the room. He was huge—at least forty feet tall—and his one eye was a brilliant blue. An animal hide was draped over his shoulder, and he carried a club in one hand.
Oh man, he looked strong.
I shrank back into the shadows of the couch.
“Who’s there?” the Cyclops bellowed. His voice was so deep and scratchy it sounded like he was speaking through a throat full of gravel.
I froze, my heart thundering. Had he heard me?
“I can smell you, intruders.”
Crap!
I had no way to make myself not smell like a human. I met Maximus and Prometheus’s gazes, but before we could even whisper a plan, there was a loud thud.
I whirled toward the noise, spotting the face of the Cyclops pressed right against the ground. He glared at me with his one eye, then reached under the couch and wrapped a meaty hand around my waist. He moved so fast I didn’t have a chance to run.
He yanked me out from under the couch, and my skin chilled. Then he reached down with his other hand and grabbed someone else.
Maximus.
Damn.
He stood, raising us into the air. My head swam as the earth rushed away from me, and I tried to gasp in a breath.
“There’s another one,” the Cyclops said.
Oh, crap. Who was he talking to?
I peered around to the side, spotting a second Cyclops. He was just as big as his buddy, but with blond hair instead of brown. He bent down and snatched up Prometheus.
Dang it.
There went our backup.
I dragged in a ragged breath, barely able to fill my lungs with how hard the Cyclops was gripping me. “Lighten up.”
He just glared at me.
I called upon my magic, debating which power to use. Should I suck the life from him? There was probably so much inside him that I’d explode from it. I could try the sunlight power to blind him, or the lightning.
“Don’t attack!” Prometheus gasped.
Did he mean me?
I twisted my neck to look at him.
Overhead, the Cyclops said, “I should hope not. Guests in my home, attacking?”
Guests?
I shot a quizzical look at Prometheus, and he repeated the command. “Don’t attack.” He turned to look up at the Cyclops. “But could you loosen your grip, please?”
What the heck was going on?
The grip around my chest loosened, though, just enough to let me breathe freely. I sucked in a deep breath and looked up at the Cyclops. He was looking down at me with confusion, but not menace.
Okay, were we guests here?
The truth was, we were intruders. But maybe he could see past that. Prometheus seemed to know something was up.
“Hi,” I said.
“Arges, Steropes, it’s good to see you,” Prometheus said. “I didn’t realize you lived here, now.”
The Cyclops holding me looked between me and Prometheus. He squinted toward Prometheus, then grinned widely, his teeth yellowed and chipped. He had to be thousands of years old, and he definitely needed a trip to the dentist.
“Prometheus!” he boomed. “It’s been a long time. You look quite different.”
Prometheus rubbed a hand over his smooth chin. “No more beard.”
The Cyclops nodded, then stomped toward the big table in the middle. I bounced in his hand with every step, and managed to catch Maximus’s eye. The corner of his mouth quirked up.
The Cyclops set me on the table, along with Maximus. The one holding Prometheus did the same.
Prometheus stepped forward, gesturing to me and Maximus. “I’d like to introduce you to my friends. This is Maximus Valerius, the gladiator, and this is Rowan Blackwood, the Greek Dragon God.”
The Cyclopes each sat heavily in a stone chair and nodded at us.
The one who had been holding me said, “I am Arges.”
“And I am Steropes,” said the other. He turned to look at Prometheus. “What are you doing in our home, sneaking around?”
Prometheus grinned, and I was grateful to see that he didn’t look very nervous. Which was good, since I was plenty nervous. These guys seemed nice, but they were still big enough to eat me in one bite.
“Well, we didn’t realize it was your home. You lived in mountains farther west when I knew you last. And we were sneaking because we needed to pass through, but we didn’t know that friends lived here.”
Steropes nodded. “We came here two thousand years ago and built this place.”
Prometheus nodded. “I noticed the changes.”
Ah, so these were the ones who’d diverted the river and built the caves.
“There was nothing big enough, or safe enough, for us.” Arges swept his hand around the room. “But now we have this place.”
“Where is Brontes?” Prometheus asked.
I looked at him, confused, and he silently mouthed, “Third Cyclops.”
There were three? Fantastic.
“Off foraging,” Steropes said. “But we have some nice wild boar roasting in the other room.”
So that was the smell of cooking meat I’d gotten a whiff of. My stomach grumbled.
The Cyclops grinned down at me. “Hungry, human?”
“Oh, I’m fine.”
He glowered, and I winced.
“Of course she’s hungry!” Prometheus smiled widely. “Just not used to Cyclopian manners.” He glared at me. “I, too, am famished.”
I nodded quickly. “What he said.”
The Cyclops stopped glowering and stood, slapping his hands on his knees. “Good. Then I will be right back.”
The two Cyclopes left the room, and Prometheus turned to me. “Always accept a Cyclops’s hospitality.”
“Gotcha.” A thought occurred. “It won’t be poisonous, right? And if we eat it, we won’t be forced to stay here?”
“That rule only applies to Hades.”
“You’ve known these Cyclopes for years?” Maximus asked.
“Many years. And even better, we parted on good terms.” He grinned. “I’m about to prove very useful.”
“You stopped me from getting eaten, so yeah, I’d say yo
u’ve proven your worth.”
The sound of stomping footsteps returned, and the Cyclopes entered, each carrying a tray of glistening meat. The haunches of boar were enormous. Far bigger than any animal I’d ever seen.
Maximus and I scrambled out of the way as they slammed the platters down onto the table. The boar was taller than I was.
“Olympian boar.” Arges smiled widely.
Prometheus walked toward the huge tower of meat, grabbed a piece with his bare hand, and tore the flesh away.
I wasn’t super picky about manners, but grabbing a handful of boar meat was outside of my usual, to be honest. But I mimicked his gesture, grabbing my own handful of steaming boar.
The first bite was divine, and I got over my squeamishness quickly. I figured it was best to follow Prometheus’s lead in this, so I ate until he stopped. Maximus did the same.
Finally, when everyone was sated, Arges sat back and looked at us. “You never answered why you were here.”
“I have to get to the top of the mountain,” I said. “Three of the Titans have escaped Tartarus, and if we want to put them back there, I need to complete my transition to Dragon God.”
Both of the Cyclopes scowled. “The Titans?”
“You know them?”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized it was a dumb question. I’d read something about the Titans and Cyclopes a while ago. There was so much to Greek myth that it was sometimes hard to keep it all straight, but they didn’t like each other, as I recalled.
“Of course we knew them!” Arges bellowed. “Those bastards kept us chained up in Tartarus for millennia.”
“Only Zeus saw fit to free us,” Steropes said. “So now we protect him.”
That sounded fair.
“Will you help us stop them, then?” I asked. “Help us get to the top of Olympus. Please.”
Both Cyclopes pursed their lips, clearly thinking.
“Yes, we can do that,” Arges said. “And if you ever need help on the field of battle, we would like to be there.”
Steropes cracked his knuckles and grinned. “It would be an honor.”
“Nay, a pleasure,” Arges said.
I smiled back. “Excellent. We could use all the help we can get.”
“Good. It is decided.” Steropes nodded. “We will take you to the top of the mountain now.”
A smile split across my face. “Thank you.”
They both stood, surging to their feet in one swift motion.
Arges gripped me around the waist and set me on his shoulder, then put Maximus next to me. I crouched down and gripped the animal skin tunic that stretched over his shoulder. Maximus knelt next to me, grabbing on as well.
Once Prometheus was settled on Steropes’s shoulder, the giants took off, striding through their cavern and down a massive tunnel. The air smelled damp but relatively clean, and the Cyclopes obviously took very good care of their underground lair. Not what I’d expected, but I was grateful.
When they strode out into the sunlight, I took a deep breath.
Onward.
7
The Cyclopes climbed up the mountain, which seemed to have tripled in size. The boulders were bigger, and so were the cliffs. It would have been an enormous endeavor without their help.
The cool breeze blew the hair back from my face as we ascended. The air grew colder, and I shivered and retreated into my jacket.
Maximus’s magic flared on the air, and a warm hat and gloves appeared in his hands. “Here.”
I took them, smiling gratefully, and put them on. “Ahhh. That’s awesome.”
“Glad to be of service.”
I bumped my shoulder against his just to feel him, then looked over at Prometheus. He looked a bit pale as we climbed higher, and I remembered that we were approaching Zeus’s domain. Prometheus probably didn’t want to see the guy, given their history.
I leaned up toward Arges’s ear. “Are you taking us right to Zeus’s place?”
“To the base. We won’t approach his castle, but we’ll get you as close as we can.”
“Thanks.” I looked over at Prometheus. “Since we’re nearly there, you can bail whenever.”
He glanced at me. “Oh, I plan to.”
We rode higher, jostling along. Snow began to fall, and there was a thick accumulation of it on the ground. We were so high up that the air was thin and cold.
“Winter sucks on Olympus,” Prometheus muttered. “The poets never speak of that.”
I wouldn’t say that it sucked—it was really quite beautiful, with the sparkling white stuff covering the huge trees and boulders—but it was cold. My breath began to puff out as little white clouds.
“Nearly there,” Arges said.
We had almost reached the clouds, and when we entered them, the air was cold and damp. I could barely see more than ten feet in front of my face.
A moment later, we broke through the cloud layer, arising into the bright sunlight. It gleamed off the golden marble castle that crouched on the mountaintop several hundred feet above us.
“That is Zeus’s domain.” Arges pointed at it, then moved his finger to indicate a lower level. “And that is where I am taking you.”
I dragged my gaze from the golden castle and spotted the white settlement down below. It didn’t appear as if anyone lived there, but the white marble columns and platforms made it look like some kind of strange ceremonial center.
Arges climbed right to it, then took us down from his shoulder and set us in the middle of the space below the castle. It was about the size of a football field, with massive columns all around. Six large platforms made of more white marble were situated in a circle around an open area in the middle.
Steropes deposed Prometheus and set him next to us. “Goodbye, new friends, and best of luck.”
With that, the Cyclopes disappeared down the mountainside.
Prometheus shivered and glared around the place, eventually turning his gaze up toward Zeus’s castle, which sat on the rocks about a hundred feet above. His scowl deepened, and when I followed his gaze, I spotted an enormous man standing on the ramparts of the castle.
The man’s beard and long, flowing hair were as white as the marble upon which he stood. Even from this distance, I could see his blue eyes blazing down at us. In his hand, he gripped a crooked golden rod, and I realized it was shaped like a lightning bolt.
Awe filtered through me. “Zeus.”
I didn’t like a lot of the things Zeus had done, but he was still the most powerful Greek god in existence. It was hard not to be a little awed by the magnitude of his power, even as I disagreed with how he used it.
“The bastard himself.” Prometheus turned to us. “Well, I’ve fulfilled my side of the bargain. You’re here. Try not to die.”
A grin tugged at the corner of my mouth. “That’s at the top of my to-do list every day.”
Maximus inclined his head in a goodbye.
Prometheus turned back to Zeus and flipped him the bird, waving his hand around so the god was sure to see the middle finger. He grinned widely as he did it, then glanced at me. “This is half the reason I came this far.”
Oh fates, he’s going to piss off the most powerful god there is!
Before Zeus could retaliate, Prometheus moved his hand in a large circle, creating the same terrifyingly windy portal that he’d made back in Istanbul. Without hesitating, he stepped into it and was gone.
Warily, I glanced up at Zeus, who was scowling at the empty space Prometheus had left behind. He didn’t seem to be about to throw a lightning bolt at us, so my shoulders relaxed.
I turned to inspect the space upon which we stood. “I wonder if we should go up to the castle?”
“I have no idea.” Maximus frowned up at Zeus. “He doesn’t look particularly welcoming.”
“But he’s not firing lightning bolts at us, so I’ll take that as a good thing.”
Maximus wrapped an arm around my shoulders and tugged me to him in a quick
hug. “I like how you think.”
“This place feels powerful, doesn’t it?” I could feel the magic vibrating through my body, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t all coming from Zeus. “It feels as if it’s imbued with ancient magic.”
“It does.” Maximus released my shoulders and strode into the middle of the space. “There’s definitely something special here.”
I followed him, entering the open area that sat in the middle of the large stone platforms. Each looked like they were big enough to hold a rock band.
“This has to be something ceremonial.” Was I supposed to do something here? At this point, I was pretty much out of ideas.
A shriek sounded from above, and I jumped, nearly coming out of my skin. Heart pounding, I looked upward.
A massive bird flew in the pure blue sky. It had wings so big that I could barely conceive of it.
“Holy fates.” I staggered backward. “That’s not a bird.”
“It’s a dragon.” Awe echoed in Maximus’s voice.
I blinked up at the massive creature, barely able to process it. Dragons were incredibly rare creatures. The only one that I’d ever seen was Ladon, the Greek dragon I’d met in the Garden of the Hesperides, and Arach, the dragon spirit who presided over the Protectorate castle. Arach was usually in her ghostly human form, though, so that didn’t quite count.
This dragon had glittering black scales and enormous wings. Its long neck was graceful and its tail powerful. Spikes protruded from its back, each streaked through with red.
“That looks like Ladon,” I said.
“It does.” Maximus pointed right. “There’s another.”
I looked over, joy jumping in my chest as I saw another dragon. This one was bigger and stockier, with a wider body and a much shorter neck. The scales were a brilliant green, and the horns were enormous. “It’s a totally different kind of dragon.”
“That one, too.” Maximus pointed again, and I followed the gesture, spotting a red dragon.
Movement to the right caught my eye. “And another!”
This one was blue. Within seconds, we saw two more. The six of them circled the sky, flying overhead.
“I think they’re checking us out,” Maximus said.
Delight warred with fear inside my body. Dragons were an unknown. Ladon had helped us once, but would these dragons? Or would they want to eat us?